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THURSDAY 6 DECEMBER 2012 • [email protected] • www.thepeninsulaqatar.com • 4455 7741 inside Search for life begins COMMUNITY under Antarctic ice P | 12 • Art expo marks launch of RasGas’ CSR programme P | 4-6 HEALTH • Doctor, patient trust beats pain, stress • Dental cleaning P | 7 EYE ON MOVIE • Letterman, Hoffman, Zeppelin honoured by Obama EARTH P | 8-9 HOSPITALITY • How to make the perfect: Oatmeal P | 10 LAW • Do not hand in During the years the a blank cheque! Landsat programme has • The rules for sick leave been active, its big eye has seen changes on P | 11 Earth regarding water, PLUS... food, forest, urban growth • Comics, Word Puzzles, and glaciers and ice. Crosswords, Hyper Sudoku, Kakuro, TV listings and more P | 2-3 P | 13-15 2 PLUS | THURSDAY 6 DECEMBER 2012 COVER STORY Impact of climate Jack A Kaye, associate director for Research change of Science Mission Directorate of Nasa, has travelled to Doha to on Earth share his expertise. by Isabel Ovalle happening to this planet in relation to temperature and asa, the National precipitation. We are trying Aeronautics to launch a satellite in 2013 and Space to measure soil moisture and NAdministration of we’ll launch another one in the US, puts its experts, tech- 2014 to improve our ability nology and satellites to use for to measure precipitation,” he the evaluation of the impact of added. climate change on Earth. Satellites also measure Among these satellites solar radiation. “If you have is the Landsat programme, data you can begin to make which recently celebrated its connections, look at pollut- 40th anniversary. Since the ants,” added Kaye. Currently launch of the first satellite Nasa has 16 satellite missions in 1972, multispectral digital that are studying the Earth images of the global land sur- and the sun. In addition, the face have been collected and agency has partnerships with archived. European nations and Canada, With the 8th Landsat to be among others. launched in February 2013, “Nasa is blessed with being the programme will continue a science agency that’s in the providing scientific measure- position to develop technology, ments to accurately track build satellites, and fly planes. land surface conditions and We try to work in partnership how they change. with others in the US and These images are collected other space agencies,” contin- at a scale that can differen- ued the Nasa official. tiate natural variation from In due course, the agency human impact. Urban growth aims to “provide tools to help of cities, health and distur- people in a number of cases, bance of forests, recession one of the biggest challenges of the world’s glaciers and is to process all the data, a water supply and productiv- task which becomes a burden ity of agriculture are examples because it’s so much,” he said. of how Landsat can capture Doha’s conference is the and characterize land surface third one with Nasa partici- conditions. pation at the US center. Kaye Jack A Kaye, associate explained that “the climate director for Research of problem is a global problem, Science Mission Directorate there are things that can of Nasa, travelled to Doha to only be studied from space, share his expertise. He said like the thaw in Greenland that “with satellites we have and Antarctica. It’s impos- a pretty good sense of what’s sible to imagine how one going on anywhere in the could do that without satel- world.” lites which make it possible to “We can look at the results address things that otherwise and understand what’s wouldn’t be.” PLUS | THURSDAY 6 DECEMBER 2012 3 Even though climate is an area of political sensitivity, science gives as the rigorous base to make decisions for the future. Kaye said that “even though also been recorded by satellites. climate is an area of political These rivers spilled over their sensitivity, science gives as the banks at the confluence of the rigorous base to make decisions Wabash and Ohio in early May for the future.” 2011. The flood waters inun- “It’s a great way to train peo- dated homes, businesses, and ple, help them learn about the agricultural fields. world, and about the science. It’s Regarding urban growth, hard sometimes to think about Landsat images reveal how change. One thing we know is certain cities have grown rap- that the earth doesn’t do the idly since 1978. An example is same thing everywhere. If you Tehran, in Iran, that has grown really want to know how the quickly since 1985, causing the Earth as a planet is behaving, loss of numerous green areas. you have to use the satellites,” In a way that the appearance of he concluded. the city from space has changed During the years the Landsat from green to mainly grey. programme has been active, its Landsat has observed as big eye has seen changes on well the shrinking of glaciers Earth regarding water, food, for- in Greenland, Alaska and est, urban growth and glaciers Antarctica. Also on Puncak and ice. In the region, thanks to Jaya, Indonesia there has been satellites NASA has observed a big ice loss, with two gla- how Saudi Arabia has drilled ciers disappearing and three for water over the last 24 years. retreated dramatically. It has tapped hidden reserves of Ultimately, Lansat has seen water to grow wheat and other the world change in the last 40 crops in the Syrian Desert. years. Without blinking the sat- Other changes on Earth have ellite has watched the urbani- to do with deforestation. From zation of Dubai, including the 1975 to 2012 satellites have construction of hundreds of kept record of enormous tracts artificial islands, or the Kuwait of Amazonia forest vanish in oil fires, among other phenom- Rondonia, a state in Western ena. These images are available Brazil. for the world to see and reflect Alterations on Earth that on how Earth is behaving as a affect food supplies, like those in planet and the human influence the Ohio Rivers in the US, have on this behavior. The Peninsula 4 PLUS | THURSDAY 6 DECEMBER 2012 COMMUNITY The Minister of Energy and Industry H E Dr Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada cutting the ribbon in the company of Dr Ibrahim Ibrahim, Economic Adviser to the Emir, and RasGas Managing Director Hamad Rashid Al Mohannadi. RIGHT: Paintings on display. Art expo marks launch of RasGas’ CSR programme asGas Company Limited of directors and executive leadership initiatives such as this exhibition which science as well as employee volunteer (RasGas) officially launched team, in addition to a number of other not only pay tribute to Qatar, but seek and skills transfer initiatives. the Year of Education 2013 senior staff. to preserve the nation’s rich culture “This is our first exhibition at the new RImpressionist Art Exhibition Showcasing 12 unique paintings by and heritage,” said Al Sada. headquarters and we are honoured to by renowned Qatari artist, Ali Al Al Sharif, the collection provides an This exclusive impressionist art reinforce our commitment to local arts Sharif at the company’s headquarters artistic portrayal of traditional edu- exhibition marks the start of the and preservation of local heritage ahead recently. This exhibition marks the cation in Qatar. Set in the 1940s and RasGas CSR’s Year of Education 2013 of Qatar’s national day celebrations. start of the corporate social respon- 1950s, the paintings place specific campaign, which will cover a range of RasGas’ CSR programme is aligned sibility (CSR) programme Year of emphasis on almutawaa and traditional topics related to education including to the Qatar National Vision 2030 and Education 2013 campaign. Islamic teaching methods, which paved art, culture, literature and reading, Qatar National Development strat- The exhibition was officially inau- the way for modern-day education in egy 2011-16,” said RasGas Managing gurated by H E Dr Mohammed bin Qatar. What: Impressionist Art Exhibition Director, Hamad Rashid Al Mohannadi. Saleh Al Sada, Minister of Energy “RasGas continues to demonstrate Where: RasGas headquarters The exhibition will run until Monday, and Industry, Chairman and Managing its long-standing commitment to the When: Till Dec 10, 9am-6pm December 10 and is open to the public Director of Qatar Petroleum and local community. The Company’s CSR Entry free from 9am to 6pm every day. Chairman of RasGas, RasGas’ board programme provides a multitude of The Peninsula Dukhan Stringrays wins first Pakistan Education Centre Alumni Super Sixes trophy ukhan Stringrays went away with the win- ning trophy of the first Pakistan Education DCentre Alumni (PEC-A) Super Sixes Tournament last week. The knockout tournament, which was spon- sored by Abdulla Minhas of Future World Real Estate and Khawar Aslam of Rumailah Garage, saw participation from eight crickets teams in Qatar, including one from PEC-A. A large crowd, comprising of many Pakistani families, turned up at the PEC cricket ground to watch the one-day sports event. After the initial matches, the first semi final was played between Pakistan Cricket Academy (PCA) and MIDAS. MIDAS won the toss and elected to bat. The The Dukhan Stringrays team with the trophy. team scored 74 runs at the loss of three wickets in six overs. In return, PCA successfully chased the 16 balls with an outstanding eight sixes and two PCA could not take the heat from the bowlers of total and reached 77 runs for three wickets in 5.3 boundaries. PEC, meanwhile, kept losing wickets their opponents. Assad from PCA scored a fight- overs. Yousef managed to score 34 runs off 11 balls and the team was all out at 60 runs in 5.3 overs.

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